While players have tons of armaments available to them on the twisted island location in Dead Cells, there aren't that many ways for one to make use of the magical power clearly flooding the surroundings, despite essentially being a corpse that gets infinitely reanimated.
There are a few Magic-type Ranged Weapons in the game, which, put simply, are the only kind of magic spells the player can use in battle. Out of these few, there are 5 that stand out as being the best due to their great versatility and how easily they take down foes, however, some are about more than simply doing damage and pack powerful effects that can result in immensely broken combat strategies.
5 Pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics Damage Per Second (Critical Damage Per Second) - 102 (185)
Pyrotechnics Scaling - Brutality & Tactics
Pyrotechnics Location - Dropped By Caster Enemies (1.7% Chance)
Pyrotechnics Unlock Cost - 60 Cells
Tips On Using Pyrotechnics
This spell stands out as being the only Magic-type Ranged Weapon that possesses a combo, as all of the others simply cast the magical effects in singular or continuous motions. With a 4-hit combo that occurs over 1.68 seconds, Pyrotechnics has an attack speed similar to some of the faster bows in the game. This means that it can be great to use in burst attacks when a lot of damage is needed in a short window.
Players will launch small fireballs in front of themselves that not only scorch foes but can deal guaranteed critical hits to those doused in oil. The critical damage multiplier may not be high, but it is definitely useful if one has a convenient method of spreading oil around, like the Oiled Sword.
4 Ice Shards
Ice Shards Damage Per Second (Critical Damage Per Second) - 58 (87)
Ice Shards Scaling - Brutality & Tactics
Ice Shards Location - Dropped By The Time Keeper (After Defeating Them 3 Times)
Ice Shards Unlock Cost - 60 Cells
Tips On Using Ice Shards
There's no denying that the low base DPS and the lacking critical damage multiplier result in Ice Shards being nearly unusable as a weapon on its own, however, it comes with a very useful effect: slowing down enemies. When used, the caster of this spell will launch 3 small particles in a spread that chills enemies in a moderate radius.
Slowed enemies are much easier to dodge, which makes Ice Shards great to use against elite foes and even bosses, though, players will need a way to deal damage as well. Much like Pyrotechnics, and some other Magic-type Ranged Weapons, Ice Shards does guaranteed critical hits to foes soak in oil, as well as water, which helps out in the damage-dealing department.
3 Fire Blast
Fire Blast Damage Per Second (Critical Damage Per Second) - 150 (196)
Fire Blast Scaling - Brutality & Tactics
Fire Blast Location - Dropped By Masker Enemies (1.7% Chance)
Fire Blast Unlock Cost - 20 Cells
Tips On Using Fire Blast
Using Fire Blast is much like using a flamethrower in that it can unleash continuous streams of fire to roast enemies at close and medium range. The hits occur once every 0.51 seconds, and, while not technically a combo, the constant gouts of flame act very much like a very rapid one that can immolate many enemies swiftly.
Once again, oil can be used to buff the damage output of this spell thanks to the added flammability granting certain critical hits. The critical damage multiplier is rather low, though, the frequency that Fire Blast's attacks occur means the low multiplier is more to prevent Fire Blast from being overpowered than being an actual flaw.
2 Frost Blast
Frost Blast Damage Per Second (Critical Damage Per Second) - 48 (Can't Do Critical Hits)
Frost Blast Scaling - Survival & Tactics
Frost Blast Location - Unlocked In A Daily Event
Frost Blast Unlock Cost - None
Tips On Using Frost Blast
Many will find similarities between using Ice Shards and Frost Blast, however, there is a significant difference: Frost Blast freezes enemies in a forward-facing cold shockwave. Instead of simply slowing down their movements, frozen enemies become completely immobile for 3 full seconds.
While bosses cannot be outright frozen, they will suffer from the slow effect, as will more common enemies who live long enough to thaw out from their ice-sculpture-like forms. The lack of being able to land critical hits is not much of an issue, as the freezing effect is very versatile and can allow for devastating synergies with some weapons, such as the Nutcracker; a Warhammer-type Melee Weapon that does tremendous assured critical hit damage to frozen foes.
1 Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt Damage Per Second (Critical Damage Per Second) - 114 (331)
Lightning Bolt Scaling - Tactics
Lightning Bolt Location - Dropped By Inquisitor Enemies (1.7% Chance)
Lightning Bolt Unlock Cost - 30 Cells
Tips On Using Lightning Bolt
For extremely high burst damage, Lightning Bolt is the best Magic-type Ranged Weapon, and arguably the best Tactics-scaling weapon as well, for it possesses one of the highest critical damage multiplier stats in the game and is remarkably easy to use as long as one does not get greedy. This zapping spell ticks off an attack in a continuous stream every 0.45 seconds for rapid hits of constant damage.
There are 3 stages of using Lightning Bolt, all of which involve the player shooting electricity from their palms. The first stage, which lasts for the first 5 attack ticks of continuous usage, is the blue phase where the player deals normal damage. The second stage, the golden phase, unleashes triple the DPS (automatically activates the critical DPS) from attack tick 6 to 9 for a ridiculous amount of damage, which continues into the next phase, though along with a dangerous change.
From attack tick 10 and onward, the red phase, players will do the same high-level of critical DPS, however, will now take a lot of damage while using this red lightning. The phases reset every time one stops using Lightning Bolt, so the ideal usage of this Ranged Weapon is to zap foes for a few seconds at a time between dodges and using other weapons.